The '21' Experience

The other night, I went to the opening of 21, with some local MIT alumni. My girl Charisse organized a get together of MIT folks to see a 21+ showing at the Arclight in Hollywood. No, there were no extra ‘adult’ scenes in the film, or anything. Arclight 21+ showings just have a bar outside the theater, and you can take your drinks inside with you, if you like.

Trust me, we needed the drinks.

The film was….laughable. Then again, maybe we were looking for some good laughs, the film being about an MIT student counting cards at casinos (based on a true story).

As a group we opened the film with a requisite “LSC…….Sucks!” cheer. Snickering ensued from then on. Some things I remember being funny:

The mythical ‘MIT 4.0′ GPA being impressive. MIT grades on a 5.0 scale, with a 5.0 being the A average. A 4.0 from MIT means you’re sittin’ in B-ville. Not like that’s a bad thing. Just sayin. It’s like graduating from MIT ‘with honors.’ That’s impossible.

The constant use of the term ‘2.090’ (said: “the Two-Ninety”) for our robot competition. It’s actually 2.009 (said: two double-oh nine). Not sure why they chose to use a different, but similar and confusing name for the class.

Random scene on Memorial Drive in front of Killian Court, where lead was talking to his nerdy friends. There was mad foot traffic in the scene, as if anybody walks down this sidewalk at all during school.

Overall, the film was average. I nodded off a few times, to be honest. I agree with the protests, the film was racist to not include more Asian actors because in real life, the team consisted of more Asian students. Now that I think about it, the lone Asian actor in the film had few lines, and a minimal role of importance on the team.